Rugby supremo Gatland was bombarded with a barrage of criticism after dropping the veteran Ireland centre for the third Test decider but it was vindicated by a record 41-16 triumph over the Wallabies.

And Sky boss Brailsford is on a hiding to nothing if his team’s defence of Chris Froome’s title goes pear-shaped.

Gatland’s Wales has often been accused of only having a plan A and the same criticism will be fired in the direction of Brailsford in coming days.

For leaving Wiggins, the first Briton on win the Tour de France and a multiple Olympic and world track champion, is akin to Wales and the Lions having broken up the legendary 1970s half-back partnership of Gareth Edwards and Barry John.

Le Tour starts a week on Saturday in Yorkshire and the opening days are among the toughest in the race’s 111-year history with a recipe for crashes, breakaways and significant time gaps among the general classification contenders.

Stage two to Sheffield could be sublime for spectators but horrid for the big names if it’s ridden hard from the start. The Tour might not be won on it but it could very well be lost.

Ditto stage five over the treacherous and dangerous cobbles of northern France. It was those rough roads that spelt the end of Lance Armstrong’s challenge four years ago.

Froome will have Welsh wizard and key Sky worker Geraint Thomas to help in the shepherding process but things can still go drastically wrong.

With the number of broken bones and serious injuries, which occur in every Grand Tour, it’s safe to assume there will be at least one big-name casualty during the frantic opening stages when tension is high, nerves are frayed and all the top riders want to be near the front of the peloton on narrow roads.

It’s conceivable if Wiggins, who finished ninth with Thomas seventh over the cobbles of the Paris Roubaix Spring Classic, could have been a couple of minutes up on Froome after it.

It would have meant Sky having a second card to play and putting pressure on other teams, like that of race favourite Alberto Contador’s Tinkoff Saxo, to respond and allowing Froome to play a waiting game before striking in the high mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees.

But there’s been little harmony between Wiggins and Froome since they fell out at the 2012 Tour with the former accusing the later of undermining his leadership.

It’s personality rather than ability which has been the determining factor in Wiggins’ omission this time with doubts over his commitment to “working” for Froome.

Chris Froome

Wiggins can be a loose cannon but you have to wonder, would such a situation be allowed to exist and fester in another sport?

Would Gatland or Sir Alex Ferguson put up from the nonsense which has hung over Team Sky like a bad smell since Wiggins returned to top form with a sensational victory at the Tour of California?

Not a chance!

They would have laid the law down, banged heads if they had to, and ordered Froome and Wiggins to forget their differences over the next month and work together for the end goal of the former wearing the yellow jersey of the winner on the final podium in Paris at the end of next month.